SECRETARY VILSACK TELLS FARMERS AND RANCHERS TO GET NOTICED

SECRETARY VILSACK TELLS FARMERS AND RANCHERS TO GET NOTICED

INTRO: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack addressed a gathering of farmers and ranchers in Washington, D.C. and told them to get lawmakers’ attention. The USDA’s Bob Ellison has more. (1:46)

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY TOM VILSACK SAYS FARMERS AND RANCHERS HAVE TO WORK HARD TO GET NOTICED IN TODAY’S AMERICA. MEETING WITH MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL FARMERS UNION AT U-S-D-A HEADQUARTERS IN WASHINGTON D-C, VILSACK ANSWERED A QUESTION ABOUT HOW TO GET LAWMAKERS TO PAY ATTENTION TO RURAL AMERICA.

Morgan Hartman, Farmer, New York: How can we kick the shins to grab the attention better of our elected representatives to let them know they work for us?

Tom Vilsack, Agriculture Secretary: The first thing we have got to do is we have to educate the rest of the country about the significance and the importance of what farm families do and what rural communities do for the entire country.

VILSACK SAID THERE IS A LACK OF APPRECIATION IN THE U-S FOR FARMERS AND RANCHERS.

Vilsack: America has an extraordinary, extraordinary advantage over the rest of the world because we have the capacity to produce everything we need to feed ourselves. That’s not true of very many other countries in the world. Whenever people walk out of the grocery store in this country they walk out with more money in their pockets as a percentage of their paycheck than virtually anybody else in the world.

AND VILSACK SAID WITHOUT THE PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY OF U-S AGRICULTURE THAT EXTRA MONEY WOULD NOT BE SPENT IN OTHER PARTS OF THE ECONOMY.

Vilsack: So if we want our folks, our political leaders to understand the significance of what you all do and to support it adequately the ninety nine percent of us who don’t understand what you all do have got to understand how important that one percent is.